EU warns Meta To Tackle Israel-Hamas Disinfo

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Social media firms have seen a surge in misinformation about the conflict, including doctored images and mislabeled videos

2023-10-12T12:04:35+05:00

Following Hamas' attack on Israel, the EU has sent a warning to Mark Zuckerberg on the spread of "disinformation" on Meta's social media platforms.

It informed Meta, the company that owns Facebook and Instagram, that it "has 24 hours" to reply and abide by European law.

A rise in false material regarding the battle, including edited photographs and mislabeled videos, has been seen by social media companies.

The EU issued a warning about such content to X, formerly known as Twitter, on Tuesday.

The bloc must demonstrate that it has taken "timely, diligent, and objective action," according to Thierry Breton, the bloc's industry chief.

He gave the company 24 hours to inform him in writing of the "proportionate and effective" steps it had taken to stop the dissemination of misinformation on its platforms.

A representative for Meta told the BBC: "After the terrorist attacks by Hamas on Israel on Saturday, we quickly established a special operations center staffed with experts, including fluent Hebrew and Arabic speakers, to closely monitor and respond to this rapidly evolving situation."

"Our employees are working round-the-clock to protect our platforms, remove anything that breaks local laws or our standards, and collaborate with independent fact-checkers in the area to prevent the spread of false information. We'll keep working on this as the dispute develops.”

The Palestinian militant group Hamas is a designated terrorist organization in the EU, and the European Commission has since reminded all social media firms of their legal obligation to stop the dissemination of any damaging information associated with it.

"Content circulating online that can be associated with Hamas qualifies as terrorist content, is illegal, and needs to be removed under both the Digital Services Act and Terrorist Content Online Regulation," a representative for the Commission stated.

In a letter to Musk on Tuesday, Breton said that despite warnings, "violent and terrorist content" on X had not been removed.

According to Musk, his company has taken action, including deleting recently established accounts with ties to Hamas. He requested a list from the EU of the alleged infractions.

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